Kasumi Kenshiro, also known as Yan Wang or the King of Death, is a Tokyo professor and the 62nd successor to the deadly assassin art known as Hokuto Shinken. He leaves his teaching job and travels to Shanghai after getting word that his old Qing Bang Triad friend, Pan Guang-Lin, and his friend's sister and Kasumi's love interest, Pan Yu-Ling, are in trouble. While in Shanghai, he encounters and fights the three families of Hokuto: Hokuto Sonkaken, Hokuto Soukaken, and Hokuto Ryuukaken. He does all this while revolting against the corrupt Hong Hua Triads to restore honor and power to the Qing Bang.